Wu Zetian (February 17, 624 - December 16, 705, November 26 of the lunar calendar), commonly known as Wu Zhao or Empress Wu, was the only female emperor in Chinese history. Emperor Gaozong of Tang was the Empress (655 - 683), Emperor Zhongzong of Tang, and Empress Dowager of Tang Ruizong (December 27, 683 - October 16, 690). After he abdicated in 705, he became the only female emperor in Chinese history.

I can make it (a wild and unruly horse), but I need three things: an iron whip, two iron lashes, and three daggers. If I refuse to accept the iron whip, I will hit the head with a lashes, and if I refuse to accept, I will cut its throat with a dagger. There is a legacy in the wild, and it is the prime minister's fault-Wu Zetian

In the history of China, hundreds of people claimed to be emperors, and thousands of people claimed to be kings. Among this huge group, the most special one is Wu Zetian. Not only is she the only woman, but the difficult and tortuous journey to the highest throne is amazing. Whether she is in politics or as a person, she has many things that future generations can not explain and understand.

Wu Zetian's real name was Wu Zhao, who was given the name Meiniang by Emperor Taizong of Tang. After being proclaimed emperor, she changed her name to Wu Zhao. "Zetian" comes from her honorific title "Zetian Great Sage Emperor" in her later years. Her father, the samurai wok, was originally a big timber merchant. Due to his contributions to the founding of the Tang Dynasty, he became an official at the Ministry of Industry. With this background, Wu Zetian was elected to the palace at the age of 14 and became a talented person of Emperor Taizong of Tang. Despite her humble status, she won the favor of Emperor Taizong of Tang and his crown prince Li Zhi with her outstanding beauty, extraordinary talent and luck. When Taizong died in 649, Wu Zetian was forced to cut his hair into a nylon and went to Ganye Temple to endure the life of green lanterns and yellow scrolls.

However, Wu Zetian's unwillingness to be lonely determined that she must seek to end this life, and the love of fate also gave her the opportunity to make a comeback. Shortly after Li Zhi ascended the throne as Gaozong, he called her into the palace and promoted her to Zhaoyi. In the following years, Wu Zetian devoted himself to a thrilling struggle for favor. He first joined forces with Queen Wang to defeat Consort Xiao Shu, and then framed Queen Wang at the price of strangling a daughter, causing her to be sent to the cold palace. In 655, Wu Zetian finally reached the first peak of his life-the queen.

During this process, Wu Zetian deeply felt the hostility of the old school led by the eldest Sun Wuji. After becoming the empress, she deposed more than 20 officials who opposed her, and the eldest Sun Wuji and others were also forced to commit suicide. At the same time, she began to cultivate her own power and recruited Li Yifu, Xu Jingzong and other cronies.

In 660, when Gaozong's "wind-dazzle disease" developed, he had a headache and could not see. Wu Zetian began to legitimately participate in political decisions. In 664, Gaozong was dissatisfied with Wu Zetian and planned to abolish him with Shangguan Yi. Wu Zetian took the initiative to control Gaozong and execute Shangguan Yi, and truly grasped power from then on.

The only ones left who may prevent Wu Zetian from reaching the top of politics are her growing sons. The eldest son, Li Hong, was once made prince and governed politics on behalf of his father. He died at the age of 33. It was said at that time that he was poisoned to death by Wu Zetian. The second son, Li Xian, succeeded to the throne, but was later abolished due to dissatisfaction with Wu Zetian. The third son, Li Xian, succeeded to the throne. Gaozong died in 683, and Li Xian ascended the throne as Zhongzong, but was quickly abolished by Wu Zetian because of a joke. Wu Zetian made his fourth son, Li Dan, a puppet, and he claimed the rule in the court and monopolized power.

In 684, Xu Jingye and others launched an army in Yangzhou under the name of Kuang Fu Li Tang, which was soon suppressed. At the same time, Pei Yan and other important ministers were killed for taking the opportunity to blackmail Wu Zetian into returning to power and Li Dan. Subsequently, Wu Zetian, in order to eliminate the opposition inside and outside the dynasty, made great use of whistleblowing, and appointed Chongyuanli, Zhou Xing, Lai Junchen and other cruel officials to extract confessions by torture. In the following 15 years, countless ministers, including the Li clan, were killed on charges of conspiracy and other crimes, and the officialdom became a world of terror for a while. After clearing the opposition and making full preparations, Wu Zetian officially ascended the throne in 690 and changed the Tang Dynasty to Zhou.

During the reign of Wu Zetian, the most influential measures were the reform of the imperial examination system and the search for talents. In terms of the imperial examination system, Wu Zetian pioneered the palace examination, self-examination, martial arts and science making. The palace examination, that is, the emperor personally interviews those who pass the written test (called Gongshi). Wu Zetian not only pays attention to talent, but also pays attention to appearance and eloquence. The content of martial arts includes riding and shooting, carbons, weightlifting, etc. Those who pass are recruited by the Ministry of War, both of which have profoundly affected China's imperial examination system. Self-examination means that you can recommend yourself to apply for official positions, which is unique to the Wu Zetian era. Science making is an examination opened by the emperor according to temporary needs, and the names are also determined according to needs, such as virtuous and square-shaped subjects, erudite macro-word subjects, etc.

In addition to the imperial examination system, Wu Zetian also used various other methods to collect talents, repeatedly urged officials at all levels to recommend talents, and even sent recruitment envoys to patrol various places to recruit talents. In terms of his enthusiasm for seeking talents, Wu Zetian is indeed rare in China history. These measures were indeed effective. Di Renjie, Wei Yuanzhong, Zhang Jianzhi and others were all famous ministers at that time, while Yao Chong and Song Jing were famous ministers of the Kaiyuan Dynasty. The talent foundation for the prosperous era of the Kaiyuan Dynasty was laid during the Wu Zetian period.

In addition, Wu Zetian also contributed to the prosperity of Sheng Tang poetry Fu. She herself loves literature. She not only writes poems, but also creates some Chinese characters, such as her name "Zhao". Under her active advocacy, composing poems at banquets and in response became very popular, and reciting poems became a shortcut to gain fame. During the Wu Zetian era, Tang poetry began to enter a prosperous period, and its format and content gradually matured.

As an emperor who had experienced folk life, Wu Zetian also attached great importance to the construction of farmland water conservancy. During her reign, she inspected illegal land occupation, looted hidden households, and built water conservancy projects. She put forward the idea of "emphasizing farming and mulberry and reducing taxes and corvee." She also presided over the compilation of an agricultural book "Zhao Humanism." During her tenure, the number of registered households increased from 3.8 million to 6.15 million.

Wu Zetian's later life was considered "licentious" because she was close to a group of "faces" led by Zhang Changzong and Zhang Yizhi, and was given high-ranking officials, but she finally decided to pass the throne to her own son, rather than someone from the Wu family, which was considered the right move, because "people think of Tang", at that time only the descendants of Li Tang could convince the public. In 705, Zhang Qianzhi and other ministers launched a coup, killed the Zhang brothers, supported the crown prince Li Xian, and sent Wu Zetian to the cold palace on the bed. In the same year, 82-year-old Wu Zetian passed away in the cold.

The evaluation of Wu Zetian in the historical circles varied greatly, and the rapid changes were rare among emperors in the past. Wu Zetian was criticized mainly for promoting the style of whistleblowing, appointing cruel officials, killing innocent people, indiscriminately sealing off officials, and living a promiscuous life. In fact, Wu Zetian used both villains and gentlemen. The villains helped her seize power, and the gentlemen helped her govern the country. Although she caused turmoil at the upper political level for a time, the social economy still maintained stable development, causing her to encounter only some short-term resistance while achieving changes unseen in the 2,000-year history of feudal history. In general, the evaluation of her rule as "inheriting the rule of Zhenguan and ushering in the prosperous era of Kaiyuan" is still appropriate. Because of her political success, her contribution to maintaining the prosperous Tang Dynasty, and her influence on the imperial examination system, she was included in this ranking, ranking 93rd.

Comments: Wu Zetian's killing of officials and her enthusiasm for talent selection form a sharp contrast. In fact, both serve the same purpose, which is to consolidate her rule. The killing of officials made everyone feel insecure, and no one dared to challenge her ruling legitimacy; and selecting a large number of talents could form a new group that respected her ruling legitimacy and reserve talents for the future prosperous times. This was Wu Zetian's brilliance.